Quest for Glory: Letters from Willowsby Chapter 6, Part 1 of 2
by Virgil Reese
Summary: "Propino Tibi Salutem!"-, Part 1 of 2, in the reintroduction of the Spielburg Ciderfest. A shorter read than the others, so as to ease into things before Lunasa's windy departure from Germania in search of Devon Aidendale, with a letter in hand.


QUEST FOR GLORY: Letters from Willowsby: Chapter 6

"Propino Tibi Salutem!" (Part 1 of 2; The Spielburg Cider Festival)

It's been somewhere before or after 15 years since I've looked upon this stage, the scent of cider all around, and Baron Stefan von Spielburg, stein in hand, readying to address the crowd. A bright blueish-green ribbon was strewn across the front of the stage. I imagine the Baron's countenance would be a bit different than the last time, given all that's happened, but he looked to be in as good spirits as he did way back when, albeit, a little older and worse for the wear. None here could blame him. All knew the story of the valley's erstwhile curse by now, and that it had been vanquished by Devon Aidendale. No one I asked quite knew where he was though, other than the land of Shapeir, even when I engaged Shapeiran merchants in conversation upon the Fairgrounds. They said he stopped off in Raseir, after freeing the grand city of Shapeir from some menace involving some elemental monster threat. Their caravan kept going, until coming here or other trade-stops along the way. They seemed a bit concerned for him, telling me that Raseir wasn't the place it had once been. The stories the katta Shameen and Shema told them had compelled them to see where their hero began his quest. Upon hearing of the Cider Festival returning, it became a moral imperative (as they put it), and here they were. No surprise, given what I've been told about their mercantile culture. Now, it was on full display in the Festival Fairgrounds, between the castlegrounds and Amelia Applebury's humble cottage-shop.

Two of the Baron's Trumpeteer-Guards, one with a well manicured moustache and a bald spot and another not so distinguished-looking, flanking both corners of the outer stage bellowed out a triumphant melody, thus signaling a call for attention to the Baron's addressment-speech. The Baron stepped out front-stage, with Baronessa Elsa and Baronet Barnard standing nearby to the side, Elsa smiling at the good turnout and merriment amongst her people and the visitors, Barnard meanwhile, shrugging his shoulders without any seeming thought in his haughty face that anyone in the crowd was his equal. The Baron began to address those assembled before him.

"Thank you all, from lands near, and afar, for joining with us, in our annual Cider Festival. Well, maybe not annual lately, but..." A few respectful but reluctant and subdued chuckles murmured throught the crowd at that remark.

"But, those days are behind us! The festival shall be ever-yearly, just as it was before!" The baron then bellowed.

"For a hero has saved our land. And according to our reports, is saving yet another! My friends, without the heroism of this man, my children whom he restored, and those who've served Spielburg, be it my soldier or citizen, I dedicate this Festival to them and you!" Steins and yells of approval carried themselves upwards into the air.

"There are some I'd like to thank, especially so." he continued (after things quieted once more), looking into where the Willowsby crowd had congealed together, "Devlar and Colletta Aidendale. Without your son's brave intervention, our valley would be in even further ruin than it was before he saved it. As a former adventurer, and as a parent, you have my deepest gratitude for raising him into the man he became." The Baron looked at them, for a few moments more, and nodded. He then turned back to the crowd, "Now let the Cider Festival BEGIN!" he yelled, to satisfied shouts from the audience, and then quaffed his stein of hard cider in one fell gulp. He then pulled out a pair of scissors from his purple Tudor vest and snapped the bright ribbon in front of him, inaugerating the week's festivities, waved, and walked backstage as the assembly cheered.

The crowd somewhat dispersed from the Baron's stage, as a band of minstrels began setting up on it to provide ambience and cheer to the central quad. I had hung back from most of everyone to get a good view of the crowd and hear the Baron's speech. I went up to the stage and noticed the ribbon fluttering in the wind. Being a bit of a whore for souvenirs, I took out the Sheinerbane dagger and cut 2 lengths of it, about a foot apiece and stuffed them into a pouch at my belt. It was still mid-morning, and I had a couple of orders to put in. On the way out, I checked out that tent I saw the other day on the way out.

"So, just what the hell is an auto-crossbow, good sir?" I asked, reading the display sign behind the counter.

"Well, my boy it's a miracle marriage of modern science and weaponized technology! Watch this!" said a graying haired mustached man, turning around wearing a modest vest, a roundish brimmed hat I wasn't familiar with, and well-crafted goggles unevenly strapped across the hat. He seemed to have a compass as a lapel-pin, as well. He loaded up what looked like a crossbow, that had some kind of apparatus grafted to it. He loaded 10 arrows at once, down the right side. Then, after he clicked the weapon into place he looked up with a grin, saying "Now sonny, take a gander at THIS!"

He pointed the "crossbow" at a target dummy in the middle of the tent and squeezed the trigger. Tchup-tchup-tchup...they fired 2 per second, and then 2 more the next, until it ran out. It was unreal to watch as a man with a normal crossbow. I was also glad not to be that poor target dummy. It barely resembled a person afterward.

"Not bad mister. Not bad at all." I said. "How much are these things, anyway?"

"Well, we have new, used, or we can give an old crossbow a conversion, if that's your flavor." He said, lighting a pipe. It smelled like the sort of pipe-weed we enjoyed in Willowsby, but the aroma was a little different. Same active ingredients, all the same though. His eyes reddened and he coughed a bit as he gave me a minute.

"How much would it cost to convert this?" I finally asked, showing him Ol' Hilde and setting it on the counter.

He looked over it, noting differentiations in design to himself in a mutter, with an occasional satisfied murmur. He looked back up at me.

"Son, this is a nice crossbow. It's of Silmarian craftsmanship; seems to be something from the King's royal guard, if my heraldic identification is what it used to be. Due to how nice this thing is, I can't make it anymore than a 6-shot auto-crossbow, 7 if you chamber on up top as well, technically, but six in the saddle-bag, ready to fly, as we say in Petalumeir. If I had the wood and metal this thing does, I could make it a 15-shot, had I built it from scratch, but there's just so much you can do on a conversion." he said with a sigh, tapping out the spent ashes of his pipe into a brass ashtray that resembled some foreign machine component.

"Well, that's just fine by me. I'd have settled for 2 or 3 really. One at a time reloads seem really unsatisfactory, you know, now that I know this exists." I shrugged.

"You know that's exactly why I got into this business, sonny. Speaking of which, I can do that 6-shot conversion for 15 gold and have it ready tomorrow, if you're interested."

"You got a deal, Mister...?"

"Lugar. Walther Lugar, here please take my card." he said, handing a small cardboardy rectangle leaf of paper over. "Yes sir, if I don't make a fortune in weapon design, mayhaps, this business card thing will catch on. It's always good to have a contigency, young man."

"I hear that. And thanks. It's a pleasure to be doing business with you Mr. Lugar, I'll be by with the money later." I said walking back out.

"No rush sonny, you can pay me when I'm done. Word gets around here. I know you're good for it." Strange to hear, considering I never mentioned my name to him. Maybe I was described. He did bring up Silmaria, from where my gladius, I go everywhere with, came.

With that, I currently had no ranged weapons. But, for all a much better reason. I headed toward the food and spirits section of the tents, stopping to buy that thing called the pizza that I saw the other day. It had sausage that I wasn't familiar with, onions that seemed like regular onions, a green veggie they called a 'bell pepper', with melted cheese, over a light tomato sauce on hand-worked dough. I was hooked. The tent I bought it from was called 'A Taste of Silmaria'. Auto-crossbows and the pizza? I need to figure how to import that sort of shit to Willowsby when this whole damn thing is over. I got the impression from that slice that, regardless of locality, you can do probably anything with this 'the pizza'. Maybe I can buy a recipe from that tent or something.

Finishing up the slice I bought, I went over to the Faust Haus tent and chatted with my Mom and Rolfie for a bit over a beer and a smoke, helping them when anything resembling a line formed, and then going back to bullshitting. Taking a sip of brew, I saw Hilde walking up to get a beer. I filled some Sheinlager into a stein and caught her at the counter with it.

"Luney, didn't you say something about showing me a park or a meadow today?" she asked with a smile, taking the stein I pushed over.

"Actually, Hilde, no." I said smiling, she getting a confused look about her, I continued, "I'm taking you to a park AND a meadow today."

"Oh, why did you tease me like that?" she laughed, taking a swig of her honey-beer.

"Couldn't help it. Before we go, I need to place an order in town with the smith and his tanner. Care to come along?" I inquired.

"Sure thing." she said, downing the last of her stein and plopping it down on the counter with a clop. My kinda girl.

After a few quizzical looks from the tanner about my 'custom saddle measurements' he also asked if I needed a lance-loop. I told him to go ahead, not knowing why in Gloriana I would need to mount a dragon and need a lance at the same time, but it just cost a couple more gold and sounded handy. The idea of men having aerial jousts while riding dragons did sound cool though, albeit, a little far-fetched. Sounds more like something out of a storybook. Anyways, the restaurant is doing just fine and I had no idea what I'll be doing after leaving here, so like Walther Lugar said, 'It's good to have a contingency young man'. The smith and his tanner told me it would take a few days, but can certainly be done. I paid them and Hilde and I were on our way.

We walked through the woods of Spielburg. I told her about some of the things I had discovered in my time in the wood, and she told me of how things were back home. Nothing had changed, save for my absence and then the news of the Cider Festival's return, which was promptly followed by rapid preparations on most of the town's part.

There were other sightseers at Victory Raid Park as we arrived. Some were local townsfolk I recognized, and others were travellers admiring the works of the Baron's stonecrafters, and the results of Heinrich Pferdefedern's knowledge of herb-lore and horticulture in general. I told Hilde of my meeting a new friend here, Keros-tan'ha the dragon, and more detail about the raid on the Brigand Fortress after which the park was named, and my encounters scavenging there. I felt so relaxed around her in this magnificent park, I even mentioned my meeting with Fred the Troll.

"Wait, you met a troll and a dragon?! Really? How are you alive?" She exclaimed, partway through our conversation.

"Well, the reason I'm alive with the troll is thanks to Toro, my minotaur friend that I've made here-" I began...

"Wait? A minotaur?" she asked, in wonder.

"Well, he's basically a big burly guy with the head of a bull-"

"I know what they are Luney, I'm just wondering how this was all within one month. Did the minotaur beat up the troll for you or something?"

"Not exactly. The minotaur was part of the brigand band. He basically told me to say, as he put it later 'the safety word'. I tried to use it on the dragon but it just confused and somewhat amused her for a second."

"Yeah, I was about to ask how you survived meeting a dragon."

"The dragon isn't actually bad. Just lonely. She offered to be my mount in my quest, but I get the impression I'll be taking her back home with me." I had no idea how right I was and how much of a help Keros-tan'ha would be when I said that.

"Wow. You leave town for a month, open up a restaurant and get a pet dragon. So that's why you were haggling and explaining for so long with the tanner just a while ago."

"Yeah. pretty much. Say, it's crowded here. How's about I show you that meadow I mentioned?"

"Erana's Peace? I can't wait, I've heard so much, but haven't seen it. A man from Shapeir selling Spielburg sightseeing pamphlets at the Cider-Fest had a nice article about it, though."

"Oh, Ali Chica, huh? Nice guy. Yes, he's actually a regular diner of mine and quite the entrepeneur from what I've seen." I replied, as she put her arm in mine and we walked westward back into the woods, and continued north to Erana's Peace.

Along the walk, we encountered Elle and Jee walking from the opposite direction. I introduced them to Hilde and they made a few jokes about how I could have left a few goblins for them in the cave near the meadow. They were on their way back from Erana's Peace and the cave to see the park, whilst heading back to the Cider Festival. We departed in handshakes and laughter and before long, Hilde and I arrived at the meadow. Unlike the park, we were the only occupants here. She was transfixed at the site and tranquility of it. Erana's Peace seems to have had that effect on all I've met, myself included. It was and remains a true wonder of Spielburg to this day.

"Oh, Luney, it's so beautiful!" she shouted. "I want to stay here forever!"

"This place has that effect the first time around, for most. I would argue all. But yes, it is quite the marvel, and made by one of the best mages who walked Gloriana." I said.

"Is...that her tombstone there? she asked, looking to our left.

"No, it isn't. But, hey, watch this..." I replied and proceeding to cast the Open spell.

The rick slid open like before. Hilde seemed to like the magic, but I noticed something, and then stood bewildered a bit. The Calm spell scroll still sat in the crevasse, as though it regenerated somehow. As I stood there, my countenance obviously changed, Hilde grew concerned. Not that I could blame her, given the nice surroundings. I explained my confusion, and not knowing that scrolls could somehow re-manifest like that. She looked at me in that way I've seen when she looks at me and took me by the hand to under the tree. She picked two fruits from the tree and ate one and then fed me one.

I had really hoped Sam handled any of the light traffic that night. I didn't make it to the restaurant until the next morning. But I will say, Erana's Peace is probably the most best place to lose one's virginity. I wouldn't know otherwise now I guess, but I wouldn't trade the smell of Hilde and the meadow flowers I felt, mixed together at once, for anything, to the day I write this and onward.

We left as noon happened, fairly red-faced, because some sightseers approached and we hadn't gotten dressed yet. I'm pretty glad that Rolfe Sheinerbane wasn't amongst them. At that, Hilde and I went back to town. We went about our respective business the rest of the day. Things went fine at the Inn the night before, and this one as well. After Sam and I finished feeding everyone, I seemed to have a cotmate that night.

But, I will always call Hilde my meadowmate since the night previous. And still do, much to her chagrin to this day. She hates old inside jokes, but I guess that's another story for another day. I drink to your health!


End file.
